At an Aquinnah select board meeting Tuesday, Wenonah Madison, president of the Aquinnah Land Initiative, which announced plans to purchase the iconic restaurant last year, said she hopes to have it back in operation this season.

The Native Land Conservancy purchased the iconic cliffside restaurant and the surrounding land this week. It will hold the property until the Aquinnah Land Initiative, a new Wampanoag nonprofit, can raise funds to buy the property.

With the Gay Head Light having completed its historic move last year, and long-term planning underway for Aquinnah Circle, shop owners have a new vision for their town’s commercial and cultural district.

Three teenage girls stood on the deck of The Bite in Menemsha wearing sweatshirts over their swimsuits to keep the chilly dusk breeze at bay. The sun was setting and the last call for fried clams was about to go out, but the blue-painted picnic tables next to the small cedar-shingled shack were still full of people eating.